Integral equations-a reference text

The title 'Integral equations' covers many things which have very little connection with each other. However, they are united by the following important feature. In most cases, the equations involve an unknown function operated on by a bounded and often compact operator defined on some Banach space. The aim of the book is to list the main results concerning integral equations. The classical Fredholm theory and Hilbert-Schmidt theory are presented in Chapters II and III. The preceding Chapter I contains a description of the most important types of integral equations which can be solved in 'closed' form. Chapter IV is an important addition to Chapters II and III, as it contains the theory of integral equations with non-negative kernels. The development of this theory is mainly due to M. G. Krein. The content of the first four chapters is fairly elementary. It is well known that the Fredholm theory has been generalized for equations with compact operators. Chapter V is devoted tothis generalization. In Chapter VI one-dimensional (i.e. with one dependent variable) singular integral equations are considered. The last type of equations differ from that considered in the preceding chapters in that singular integral operators are not compact but only bounded in the usual functional spaces.